EFFECTIVE REPLIES TO MOST COMMON SALES OBJECTIONS

The most difficult, yet most important step in the sales process is handling sales objections. Unless you are effective in overcoming most common sales objections, you cannot expect to sell.

Believe it or not, every time you call on a prospect, a sale is made. Either you sell your prospect a product, or your prospect sells you an objection. If you are not effective in handling sales objections, then your prospect wins and you go home empty.

Fact is, your prospect already has an arsenal of sales objections to deal with every sales call. How effective you are in handling sales objections determines how much you can sell.

When you call on a prospect, do you easily give up as soon as you hear an objection? Do you feel relieved that the “encounter” was brief? Don’t you wish you could have done more? Well, the only way you could have done more was if you anticipated and prepared your own arsenal of effective replies against common sales objections you have encountered over time. In fact, if you can reply to three sales objections your prospect throws at you, you have three times as much chance of making a sale than if you had easily given up on the first objection, and this makes a lot of difference. If your prospect still objects after your third try, then let your prospect go and look for another. Persistence is good. Insistence is not.

Below are examples of effective replies to three most common sales objections:

• “I’m not interested”

Of course you’re not interested. How can you be interested in something you have not yet seen, right?     Give me two minutes. If you don’t like the numbers I show you, then go ahead and tell me you’re not interested. Deal?

• “No money”

That’s ok, I’m won’t be asking for your money today. All I need from you right now is your two minutes for me to show you some very interesting numbers. Can we talk?

• “Busy, no time”

I understand. I’m quite busy myself. Did you know there are 1440 minutes in a day? I only need 2 to show you some really interesting numbers. Can we talk?

Take note of the pattern in the examples shown: First, EMPATHIZE: make your prospect feel you understand his objections. Second, WITTY REPLIES: make sure you have a BENEFIT you can offer to your prospect. And never, ever, antagonize your prospect with your replies. Be tactful. Third, TIME FRAME: let your prospect know you will only take a few minutes. Stick to that time frame. Finally, ACTION STATEMENT: always end your replies with a statement urging your prospect to take action allowing you to proceed with the sales process. (Can we talk?, Don’t you agree?, Can we meet?, etc.). Unless you can get the prospect to give you the green light to proceed, you’re basically stuck at first base.

Try this yourself. Recall all those frustrating objections you encountered before and develop those painful, traumatic experiences into an arsenal of effective replies you can use to anticipate and counter those most common sales objections.